


The Sword and the Bow

by otayuriistheliteralbest



Category: Dungeons & Dragons - All Media Types, Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dungeons & Dragons, Background Viktuuri - Freeform, Battle, Blow Jobs, Frottage, M/M, Minor Injuries, Monsters, Quests, Violence, otayuri - Freeform, typical D&D fight scenes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-05
Updated: 2019-11-05
Packaged: 2021-01-23 14:13:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21321511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/otayuriistheliteralbest/pseuds/otayuriistheliteralbest
Summary: After darkness falls and their compatriots go missing, elven cousins Yuri and Viktor, along with Viktor's husband, Yuuri, are tasked with tracking down the evil that has laid claim to the well-traveled Forest of Ultath. With the help of an ex-military human named Otabek, whom Yuri recruits from the port town of Irsonne, the team fights against fiends and monsters alike to bring peace to their small corner of Abeir-Toril and rescue those they've lost.
Relationships: Otabek Altin/Yuri Plisetsky
Comments: 4
Kudos: 22
Collections: Otayuri Mini-Bang 2019





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a D&D AU fic where the world of Abeir-Toril and the continent Faerün are real. The places described in this fic won’t be found on any maps of the Forgotten Realms, but in the Appendix (“Chapter 3”) you will find some maps I used as references, as well as links to the sound galleries I used, and the first battle’s notes. 
> 
> All of the battles written in this story were actually rolled like a typical D&D game, and I want to thank my hubby, along with Francowitch and her husband, for helping me to roll the battles when there were too many characters and monsters for me to roll everything on my own! Thank you to both Francowitch and GeekMom13 for beta’ing this fic for me; any remaining mistakes you may find are my own. 
> 
> Finally, thank you to my wonderful partner in crime in this Mini-Bang, mari_sinpai, for putting up with my millions of notes and ideas and for picking my fic to work on!! I adore you, my dear!

Yuri scowled at the sign posted outside of the pub, the light and sound pouring out of its windows setting him on edge. _ The Dancing Mermaid_. He despised seaport towns, and the town of Irsonne was no better. Dirty, cluttered, filled with sweaty humans and dwarves who spent their lives on the sea and only came into port for trade or to find the nearest pub for ale and someone to swive. The air tasted of salt and urine, and he would give anything to be back in the safety and familiarity of the forest.

Steeling himself, Yuri pushed open the door to the pub, and the muted noises amplified to an unbearable degree. Clearly, some ship or another had just arrived at port. He cursed Viktor for sending him on this mission, but he couldn’t blame his cousin for it entirely. He needed the work. The interior of the pub was filled with a haze of smoke from the roaring fire, in which an entire roast pig sat on a spit being turned by a human in a form-fitting dress. A passing dwarf pinched her on the bum and she swatted his hand away, giggling flirtatiously and batting her lashes at him. Yuri rolled his eyes and scanned the crowded room. He spotted his mark at the far end through the haze, his elven heritage allowing his eyes to adjust quickly to the muggy air.

Viktor’s description had been rough at best: human, shorter than the average height, with dark brown hair and piercing eyes. The thing that gave the man away was the insignia of the Order of the Seven Seas that fastened his cloak at the right shoulder: a ship pierced through with seven swords. Yuri judged the man’s clothes to be well-made, though worn down with years of use that was obvious even at a distance. He nursed a tankard of ale and tapped his boot to the beat of the bard playing the fiddle on the other side of the room.

Yuri took all of this in with a quick glance. He didn’t sense that the man would be difficult, but to appear amiable - something that Viktor always berated him for in their line of work, he weaved his way through the crowded tables to the bar, where a burly dwarven woman was wiping down tankards. He handed her his own leather tankard - never trusting the cleanliness of communal tankards found in pubs - and gave her an attempt at a smile.

“Any chance you have an Autumn Ale available here, mistress?”

She sniffed at him, setting down the last of the clean tankards.

“Aye, that we do. It’ll be four coppers. Will ye be wanting anything to sup? Yon roast pig is ready, or the house specialty is albacore tuna and I have a fine spiced apple bread just finished baking in the oven.”

Yuri hid the grimace that wanted to creep up on his face, only just.

“A slice of the bread, if you please, mistress.”

“That’ll be another copper. I’ll have one of my girls bring it out for you.” 

She finished pouring Yuri’s ale and plunked it down on the bartop between them, the ale sloshing over the edge of the tankard and onto the rough-grained wood. Yuri pulled the coins from the pouch hidden in his sleeve and set them on the ale-soaked bar. Nodding to the woman, he stepped carefully through the bawdy men and dwarves and the occasional halfling to the corner where the human sat still nursing his ale. He didn’t seem to have noticed Yuri, so the elf cleared his throat to catch the man’s attention.

“Is this seat taken, by any chance?” Yuri asked. “There’s barely room to breathe, let alone sit, with all these sailors around.”

The man’s eyes widened and he shook his head.

“I’m alone. I mean, you’re welcome to join me. My name is Otabek.”

He held out a hand to Yuri, and the elf paused for only a moment before reaching out to shake the proffered hand. Otabek’s hand was callused from years of using both sword and handaxe. Yuri’s brows raised imperceptibly, his estimation of the other man rising every moment. A person didn’t get those calluses from just practicing every once in a while, but from constant, daily training and use of their weapons. He knew his own hands bore the marks of bowstring and sword as well.

Yuri sat gracefully in the empty chair across from Otabek and took a long sip of his ale; delicious.

“I’m Yuri of Isylde, in the Forest of Havynn.”

Otabek’s eyebrows furrowed in thought. “I passed through the Forest of Havynn some years back. Isn’t that the village where raiders—?”

“Yes.” Yuri cut him off, not wanting to revisit the memory of his family’s deaths. He took a long sip of his ale, letting it burn as it slid down his throat. “Anyway, a certain cousin of mine heard that you might be looking for work, and we have a job for which we could use your expertise. If you are interested.”

At that moment, a halfling woman bustled over to the table with a large slice of the spiced apple bread Yuri had ordered on a wooden plate. Yuri thanked the woman and slipped her a copper. She winked at him and left the pair alone.

“Care for a bite?” Yuri asked Otabek. When the human shook his head mutely, Yuri shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

He worked his way through the bread; it was more like cake than bread, and it was heavenly. He made fast work of it and washed it down with another big swallow of ale.

“Anyway, my contacts tell me that there is a ruined temple a couple days’ travel from here. That’s not out of the ordinary, of course, but there have been whispers among travelers to avoid the route through that part of the forest, and the area seems to have begun to spread in the last year. Two of our Order’s members tried to scout it out and work out what the problem was a couple weeks back, but they missed their rendezvous last week in Sia’s Keep. It might be dangerous, but from what my cousin told me, you aren’t one to balk at a little danger.”

Yuri smirked at Otabek, who was running the tip of his finger around the rim of his tankard.

“People in danger and solid work? I’m in. Will anyone else be joining us?”

Yuri leaned back in his chair, stretching his long legs out in front of him.

“My cousin Viktor and his husband will meet us at a crossroads in the forest about half a day’s journey from the ruins’ location. They’re decent enough sorts, and I trust them at my back. Yuuri is a warlock, Viktor a born and bred ranger. They took me in when the bandits… Anyway, they’re solid fighters.”

“Very well, then. I assume we won’t be setting out til morning? The sun rises early, and if we’re to head out tomorrow, I’d rather get my rest now.”

Yuri nodded. “I’m fine in the dark, but thought as much. I’m staying at the Black Swan on Mark’s Lane, if you would like to meet me there at the hour past dawn.”

They clasped hands once more, and Yuri drained his tankard and clipped it to his belt. He gave a little joke-mocking salute and sauntered out the door and back into the salty night air.

Yuri didn’t require the sleep that humans did, and so he stayed up late in his hired room at the Black Swan, going over the detailed maps that Viktor had commissioned for him a few years previous. They rolled up neatly into a weather-proofed leather tube and he considered them to be his most prized possession, even though others would beg to differ on that front. He checked the labels on the edges of the pages carefully, until he came across the one marked “Forest of Ultath” and separated it from its fellows. He spread it out on the floor of his rooms and pinned down the edges of the parchment with coins from his belt pouch. That done, Yuri scanned the map with his eyes, tracing the tip of his finger over the routes into the woods. The mapmaker hadn’t considered a need to foray into the forest itself, of course, and so details were sparse. There wasn’t even a mention of a temple ruins on the thing. 

Yuri sighed and rolled the map back up with the rest of them, tucking them back in the leather tube and setting it aside in case he needed to rush to leave at a moment’s notice. Years in his line of work had trained him never to settle in one place, always think about the quick escape should the need for it arise. That finished, Yuri flipped up and stretched out on the bed, falling into a trance that was his rest. Fire and screams greeted him in dreams he could never shake.

* * *

Yuri was sitting in the public room of the Black Swan with his bag at his feet when Otabek walked through the door. He was clearly ready to head out the moment Yuri said “go” and Yuri was impressed with how light the human traveled. A leather jerkin covered his broad chest, and Otabek wore his sword and handaxe clipped to his belt in easy reach. The hunter green cloak of the night before was flung out of the way behind his shoulders so that he had full use of his arms. A small, well-worn leather satchel was all he carried over one shoulder.

Yuri nodded in approval. He didn’t care for folk who traveled with practically an entire household’s affects with them, especially when one was traveling afoot with no pack mules to carry the load. Yuri drained the last dregs of tea from his cup and rose from his seat, shrugging his own satchel and the leather tube containing his maps over one shoulder, the quiver that held his arrows crossing his chest so that the arrows were in easy grasp. 

“Shall we be off, then?” 

“By all means,” Otabek said, turning to walk out the door he had just entered.

The first hours of their trip were held in companionable silence. They were quick to leave the salty-aired city behind, watching as buildings made way to fields of corn and wheat, then turned to the scrub of the wilderness. Yuri’s shoulders relaxed when they saw the last of civilization slip behind them, and he turned to eye his companion.

“We should reach the forest in a couple hours’ time, if you’re all right with waiting to take a break until then?”

Otabek’s lips quirked in a sideways-slanting smile.

“That’s fine with me. I prefer fewer breaks, personally. Maybe then we could look at those maps you have with you? I’d like to get a lay of the land we’re going to be traveling through. I haven’t passed through this part of the world in some time.”

They were just about to settle in under a tree for a break when a noise made Yuri’s pointed ear twitch. In less time than it took to take a breath, he had this bowstring out of its pouch on his hip and his shortbow strung, one arrow notched in place and another held hanging from his draw hand. He scanned the sky and gasped as large wings broke through the clouds overhead, and a creature of nightmares came diving toward them. The bird’s wingspan easily reached one hundred, maybe one hundred fifty feet, and if that hadn’t given it away, the blood-red face, claws, and tail with blue and white feathers would have.

“It’s a roc!” Yuri shouted to Otabek, who was already unsheathing his longsword.

“I can see that, Yuri,” Otabek said, his calm voice belied by the quivering of his hands.

Yuri breathed in, out, in, lining up his shot just right, and loosed on the roc, just missing by a handspan as the arrow skimmed through the feathers of its right wing. He cursed and immediately reloaded.

“I really hope you have some spells up your sleeves,” he told Otabek, not taking his eyes off the giant bird that was making a beeline for the pair on the ground.

The roc’s eyes glowed blood red and it let out an unearthly shriek that made Yuri shudder. It spun in the air, barreling past Otabek and just barely missing him with its talons by mere inches. Yuri could hear Otabek murmur something and his sword began to glow. He thrust out at their attacker as it flew past him, scoring a deep cut along the monstrous bird’s side. He fumbled at his handaxe, unable to pull it free from its loop in time. 

From under the tree that was their sole protection, Yuri loosed another bolt at the roc, and it lodged deep in the creature’s shoulder. It lashed out at Otabek with its talons, piercing his shoulder and arm. A breath later, it snapped its deadly beak at him, but Otabek just managed to get his longsword up in time to block the attack, slicing into the roc’s beak in the same movement. Otabek followed through with the movement of his sword, stabbing deep into the creature’s neck as it reeled back. He swung it back down in a butterfly sweep to cut deep into its chest as it backed away, fury in its eyes.

In its moment of distraction, Otabek pulled a white scrap of fabric from a hidden pocket in his cloak and flung it out to Yuri. It floated to the elf and clung to his wrist like a second skin. Otabek spoke a word of command and the fabric flashed silver and then faded. It flooded Yuri’s body with a sense of healing and strength. He had no time to waste on the spell, though, and already had two more arrows pulled from his quiver. He set one to the bowstring and pulled it taut. Yuri sighted on the creature’s chest and loosed once more. The bolt buried itself deep in the roc’s chest, but it had turned at the last moment, so the arrow missed its heart. The creature turned on Yuri then, its massive wings stirring the air and almost knocking him over in the downwash it created. The roc bore down on Yuri, its talons outstretched to cut deep into his chest. Yuri cried out in pain as the creature’s beak bit down hard on his shoulder. He dropped his bow to the ground as he scrambled for purchase on the beak to break free of its hold.

Otabek, forgotten in that moment, let out a battle cry and thrust out, his sword cutting deep into the creature’s leg. He reversed the longsword and thrust up, cutting tendons and muscle alike. The roc released Yuri and fought to get into the air and away from its attacker.

Yuri scrambled into the tree, making quick work to the point of practically flying up into its branches, ignoring the pain in his chest and shoulder. He could worry about the bleeding later when he wasn’t dead. He had spied a sturdy branch that extended out farther than the rest with enough leaf cover to at least obscure him from the roc’s view. He judged the distance carefully and leapt onto the creature’s back and thrust out with his sword, scoring a thick gash in its neck. He twisted out of reach of the roc’s flailing beak and fell the ten feet to the ground in a roll that would have been much more graceful had he not been injured. A last burst of energy found him around the side of the tree and away from the roc’s grasp to catch his breath.

The roc lashed out at Otabek and snapped its powerful beak at him. Its many injuries must have taken their toll, because it missed him by several feet, snapping down with an audible _ click _ on nothing at all. It let out a blood-curdling shriek and swiped at Otabek with its uninjured claws, missing and off-balance. Its great wings beat twice, then the creature fell to the ground, unable to keep itself aloft any longer.

Otabek pressed the attack and slashed at the roc’s exposed stomach, opening a wound that bled sluggishly. Yuri came at it with a fierce determination, slashing at the wound Otabek had opened with his rapier. He tried to throw his dagger at the creature, but pain lanced in his injured shoulder, and the dagger dropped uselessly to the ground.

The roc was now bleeding from its many wounds and the blood-red glow in its eyes dimmed. It slashed out at Otabek, catching him in the leg. Yuri only heard the sharp intake of breath, and then Otabek sliced up with his longsword, straight at where he judged the creature’s heart to be. It took one last shuddering breath and then fell forward. Otabek barely managed to leap away in time to avoid being knocked to the ground by the massive creature’s body, his sword stuck fast in its chest.

The pair panted hard, the rush of the fight slowly seeping out of them.

“Is it definitely dead?” Yuri asked. He didn’t want to get close to it if it would try one last attack. It would be just his luck to die at the claws of a fucking roc when they thought they’d killed the thing.

Otabek nodded and then groaned in pain at the movement.

“Yeah, it’s definitely dead. I doubt it can survive a sword through the heart.”

“Oh, that’s good to hear,” Yuri said flatly.

Yuri fell to the ground at the base of the tree in a graceful heap, moaning in pain as he jostled his many injuries.

“I’m just going to….take a break here for a moment,” he told Otabek. “I don’t know about you, but I definitely wasn’t expecting to fight a roc today.”

Otabek snorted. “Judging by the size of the thing, it’s a juvenile. We were just lucky it wasn’t fully grown; it could have easily been twice the size.”

He bent down next to the roc’s body and pulled his sword out of its chest, grimacing at the stench and gore of it. He wiped the blade on a blood-free area of the grass away from Yuri and the tree. It wasn’t perfect, but he could do more later when they found a pond or stream.

“If that’s a juvenile, I don’t ever want to meet a fully-grown adult, if it’s all the same to you.”

Otabek laughed weakly and limped over to where Yuri sat staring at the creature that had attacked them out of nowhere. He fell to the ground next to the elf and grunted in pain, clutching his injured shoulder to lessen the impact that falling to the ground would do to it.

Yuri turned to him at the noise that escaped when Otabek sat and leaned against the tree next to him.

“Fuck, Otabek, you’re hurt,” Yuri said, rummaging in his sack that had been abandoned next to the tree during the attack. He produced some bandages and a set of tiny vials, all clearly marked with the symbol for healing. He unstoppered one and offered it to Otabek.

“Here, drink this, it’ll help you to heal faster.”

Yuri held it up to Otabek’s mouth, and for all that Otabek wanted to protest that he would be fine, he knew that wasn’t the case. He downed the vial appreciatively and felt the power of the potion weave itself through his many injuries. It didn’t heal him fully, but it eased much of the worst of the pain. Yuri uncorked his own vial and downed it, grimacing at the taste.

“I hate this shit, but at least we won’t bleed out. That fucker’s talons were _ sharp _.” Yuri prodded the long scrape along his chest, a twitch in his face the only outward sign of the pain. “And now I have to mend this shirt. It was my last good one I had with me!”

He tsked and rummaged around in his pack, looking for the small sewing kit he kept with him for these kinds of tasks. He knew better, of course, with his line of work, that nice clothes were few and far between, but couldn’t he just have _ one _ shirt that didn’t need to be stitched up and bloody?

“We should get moving soon,” Otabek said with a grunt of pain. He was busily tying a bandage around the worst of his injuries, pulling on the rough fabric at his shoulder with his teeth to make sure it was snug. “I don’t want to chance that thing’s relatives being anywhere nearby. I think it was old enough to be off on its own, but I don’t want to take a chance on an assumption.”

Yuri tied off the last stitch and bit the thread with his teeth. He shook out his black shirt, grimacing at it, and then quickly tossed it back on over his head. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Otabek giving him an appraising look, making Yuri raise an eyebrow. _ Interesting_.

“Fine by me. I’ll be happy if I never see another fucking roc for the rest of my life.”

Yuri heaved himself to his feet and pulled his pack over the shoulder that the thing hadn’t bitten. He offered Otabek an arm up and helped him to gather the rest of their things. Before they left, Yuri stalked over to the creature they had killed and collected what arrows he could save from in and around its corpse. He plucked a loose blue feather that was as long as his forearm from the plumage at its neck, tucking the vibrant souvenir into his pack. 

Seeing Otabek’s confused expression, Yuri said, “You never know when the odd artifact has its uses in my line of work. I’d rather not take much, since we’re traveling, but it’s better to have something than wish we’d had it later.”

Otabek quirked an eyebrow at Yuri, his expression unreadable. “Very well then. Shall we head out?” He gestured toward the long road ahead of them.

The rest of the day passed in blissful uneventfulness. They kept an eye on the sky, wary of another roc attack, but none presented itself and they both heaved a great sigh of relief when the forest finally came into view. Yuri scouted ahead, hopping from tree to tree with ease of practice, and found as safe a clearing as any for them to camp for the night.

Yuri took the first watch, needing less sleep than Otabek and still being wired from the long day of travel and the battle. He perched high in a tree, twenty feet in the air, and stayed alert to any noise in the forest. Beyond the creaking of branches moving in the breeze that whipped through the trees, there was nothing to disturb them that night. He woke Otabek after four hours and fell into the trance that was his peoples’ equivalent of sleep. He came out of it on his own nearly four hours later and tapped Otabek’s shoulder, signaling that he could sleep once more. He set a small fire going in the morning, cooking the squirrels he had shot in the predawn light. Otabek awoke to the smell of the meat cooking, and he groaned, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He sniffed the air and found Yuri’s little campfire, grinning appreciatively as he squatted down next to the elf.

“That smells amazing. I’m impressed, I could never kill a squirrel with so clean a shot.”

Yuri pulled the meat from the makeshift spit he had been turning, handing a stick to Otabek.

“Here. You’d be a better shot if it was your main weapon, I’m sure.”

“I wish. My captain in the army told me I’d have better luck planting my longbow and hoping it would sprout apples. I can hit a man or a horse with some effort, but a small animal? Whose instincts are to scurry away and hide? I’d have no chance.”

Yuri laughed, white teeth flashing in a grin at the human. “Mayhap you just need a better instructor. I can help, if we get the chance.”

Feeling much better than they had the night before, they headed back out on the deer track Yuri had noted was their designated route through the forest. He had been this way once before, and knew better than to take the well-traveled main road. Bandits attacked lone travelers, and he had no desire to be held up further. Yuri kept his rapier at the ready, not wanting to chance stringing his bow and ruining the string. He had extras, but why waste a perfectly good bowstring needlessly?

A sharp bend in the game trail had Yuri scurrying up a tree once more. The sight before him made him roll his eyes and groan inwardly. He dropped down to dangle from a branch in his tree a few feet above Otabek’s head.

“Well?” the man asked.

Yuri resisted the urge to roll his eyes once more, and instead said simply, “The others are up ahead. Get ready for the most obnoxiously lovey-dovey couple in the world.”

He slithered out of the tree and Otabek reached out to catch him, surprising the both of them. Yuri cleared his throat.

“Uhm, thanks.” He looked down into Otabek’s steel-black eyes and away. What he saw in those eyes made his breath catch in his throat and he didn’t want to think about that right now, not when they had a mission to complete.

They wordlessly made their way along the track, and Yuri let out a bird whistle that anyone else would mistake for a real bird. The creature wasn’t native to these parts, and so when Viktor returned his trills with the response, Yuri’s shoulders relaxed and he lead Otabek into the clearing that Viktor and Yuuri Nikiforov were camped in.

“Oy, old man! You couldn’t pick a better spot to camp? Anyone who uses the game trail will find this spot.”

Viktor rolled his eyes and stepped forward to clasp forearms with Yuri. “Good to see you too, cousin. Yakov’s sources say that few know of the trail, and those that do are avoiding this stretch of the forest like the plague with all of the rumors of it being cursed.”

The willowy elf turned silver-blue eyes on Otabek. “Well met, Otabek of Altin. Your reputation precedes you.”

Those sharp eyes took in the pair’s torn and bloody clothes, the weariness in their bones. 

“What manner of chaos have you gotten yourselves into? Yuri, I leave you alone for a week on a simple task—”

“We were attacked by a roc on the road. Believe you me, it wasn’t by choice.”

Yuri shucked his pack with a wince at the lingering pain in his chest and shoulder. Turning, he came face-to-face with Yuuri, his cousin’s half-elf lover. His hands were already glowing the bright blue of his healing power.

“Let me see to your wounds, Yurio.” 

The man’s soft voice would trick a stranger into thinking he was a pushover and easy prey, but Yuri could hear the steely tone underlying his words. He pulled off his battered shirt with minimal grouching and submitted to Yuuri’s healing. He turned as he put the shirt back on to see Yuuri turning to Otabek as well. The hard muscles of the human’s chest and arms should have come as no surprise to Yuri; he had seen Otabek’s fighting style, after all, but he couldn’t help it as his arms roved over Otabek’s battle-hardened body. The marks of the roc’s sharp talons criss-crossed with other, older scars, and Yuri found himself wondering at the stories behind them. The marks on his own body were nothing to sneeze at; the price he paid for an assassin’s line of work. 

Yuri turned away to set out his bedroll for the evening, since they would be camping there for the night while they shared knowledge of the mission and made plans. He glanced up to find Viktor staring at him openly, a knowing smile on his face.

Yuri blushed and marched away to set up as far away from the old man and Yuuri’s camping spot as possible while still being in the little clearing.

* * *

“Here is what we know,” Yuuri said, hands spread out over the map that Yuri had laid on the forest floor. “The disappearances started roughly a month and a half ago in this general area—” he circled a space that was easily 50 kilometers wide “—and it does not discriminate between travelers, thieves, military, or even race. Yakov says that the locals know to avoid the area, but there have been squads from the military who have gone through this area and then vanished. We already had two forward scouts go in to try to figure out the situation with explicit orders not to engage should they find the enemy, but Seung-gil and Georgi have failed to report in. Yakov is sending us to recover them, should the Gods’ luck be with us, and kill or capture whatever evil plagues the forest.”

Yuri traced his fingertips over the lines of the map that Yuuri had circled, thinking. “Isn’t there an abandoned temple in this area? I seem to recall something about it...”

“You’re right, there is,” Otabek said. He knelt beside the map, chin propped up in one hand in thought. “I haven’t been by this area for a while, but before I left military service, I passed this way a number of times. The locals, if they even remember the place, just call it the Forgotten Temple.” 

He ran his hand over the map and pointed to a spot where a bend in the river was marked out. 

“It’s here, if memory serves, and there is an old road that turned into a game trail after the temple fell into disuse. It doesn’t go all the way to the temple, of course, but it would get us most of the way there much more quickly than if we just made our way through the forest.”

Viktor and Yuuri looked at one another and nodded, Yuuri smiling in that annoying way Yuri hated, tucked into one corner of his mouth like it was a secret he was trying to hide.

“Very well, now that we have our route planned, we should rest,” Viktor said. “It’s a long day or two’s journey to the heart of this trouble, and you both look like you could use the rest. I’ll take the first watch, Yuuri second. We’ll rouse you when it is time to get moving.”

Yuri wanted to argue for argument’s sake, but one look at the weary lines in Otabek’s face changed his mind. He dragged him off to camp down near the fire and spread out both of their bedrolls near its warmth. Yuri fell quickly into the trance that was his elven sleep, barely noticing as Otabek settled into his own covers a few feet away.

Yuri came to slowly, the periphery of his consciousness telling him that he was surrounded by warmth, not just the side facing the banked fire. He blinked blearily and twisted to find Otabek fast asleep at his back, arms wrapped tightly around him. Yuri tensed slightly as Otabek shifted in his sleep, but he settled and gripped at Yuri’s waist more tightly than before. There was no way that the elf could move without rousing Otabek. Yuri closed his eyes, grumbling slightly to himself. 

It was nice, having someone’s arms around him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I lied. I'm impatient. Here's chapter two! <3

Yuri awoke to the smell of bacon frying on a skillet and he heaved himself up to find Otabek and Viktor crouched down on the opposite side of the fire, talking in whispers. Otabek’s bedroll had already been rolled up and put away, his military-neat packs all set to go for the journey. Yuri didn’t say anything to them as he packed away his own belongings, much less neat and orderly than Otabek’s or Viktor’s, but then he traveled light so he didn’t care. He found a tree some distance away to take care of his bladder behind, and that done, he joined the others for breakfast. 

“Why didn’t you wake me, Viktor?” Yuri groused.

Viktor quirked an eyebrow at Yuri and handed him a few strips of bacon on toast on a rough tin plate.

“I figured the smell of breakfast would rouse you well enough. We still have a bit of time before we head out. Eat up.”

Yuri didn’t need to be told twice. He wolfed down the simple meal, nearly burning the roof of his mouth in his haste.

With Otabek’s directions, the group set out on the game trail they had come in on, making fast time. Yuri scouted ahead, bow in hand for any small game he might find on the way for their noon meal, but animals were scarce. After several hours of travel with nothing to show, not even a squirrel or rabbit, Yuri looped back to walk with the rest of the group, unstringing his bow and stowing the coil in its pouch. 

“It’s like the animals can sense something is wrong, too. It’s eerie,” Otabek said after Yuri finished telling them what he had discovered. “Definitely something bad. I just hope that we will be enough to handle whatever it is.”

Yuuri patted Otabek on the armored shoulder. 

“Don’t worry, Otabek. I am sure that the four of us will be able to handle this matter.”

They took a break not long after noon. Not wanting to waste the time a fire would take to build, they ate jerky and berries that Viktor and Otabek had in their packs as Yuuri pulled out the map to consult once more. Otabek traced the lines that marked out their location with a steady hand.

“We’ve made good time. If this enemy is holed up in the temple, as I believe they are, we have maybe half a day’s journey remaining. If we stop here–” he pointed to a spot not far from the temple’s location. “–then we can camp for the night far enough away from the potential threat and be rested and ready for whatever may come at us the following day when we enter the temple.”

Viktor nodded in agreement. “A solid plan. You have a keen eye for such things, Otabek. We could use someone like you in our organization, if you should find yourself in need of full-time employment.”

Yuri heard a crackle of broken branches in the woods and stopped in his tracks from his preparations to head back on the trail. He crouched low next to a large oak tree to hide and peeked around the edge of the tree, trying to spot what had made the noise. Another rustle of leaves and his eyes snapped over to a clearing maybe forty feet away. He waved to the others, who had gone silent when he reacted to the noise. Yuri pulled the bowstring out of its pouch and noiselessly strung the recurve bow without taking his eyes away from the clearing. His work done, the elf scrambled up the tree he was hiding behind to get a better look at the clearing. Where he had heard movement, everything was now still. Yuri closed his eyes to listen for anything that might be lurking, but there was nothing to hear over the rustle of leaves in the wind that picked up, plucking at the cloak wrapped around his shoulders. He shivered and shimmied back down the tree to the forest floor.

“I thought I heard something, but it must have just been an animal.” His voice came out in a whisper, the assurance of his words not quite reaching his voice.

Viktor tapped his chin thoughtfully. 

“Give me a moment, I want to check something.” Viktor made a sign in the air, his eyes glowing a pure gold that shimmered. They all stood still, not wanting to distract him from the spell he cast. It wasn’t long before he closed his eyes, waving his hand in a gesture that seemed more habit than magically necessary to end the spell. When he opened his eyes again, the golden glow was gone, replaced by worry and a pinched brow.

“I don’t know where, but there is a giant within a mile of us. It radiated an evil energy that cloyed like a sickness to my skin. There were also several fiends. I, unfortunately, have no idea if they are all together or where they might be. I’d suggest that we all prepare ourselves.” Viktor turned and looked to Yuuri. “My dear? You may need to use that new spell of yours sooner than you’d like.”

Yuuri’s face was set in a grim line.

“Very well.”

They tread carefully along the game trail, keeping eyes and ears open wide. Several times, Yuri stopped them to run up trees to scout around, but he always had the same answer when he rejoined the others. He didn’t see or sense anything.

Yuri heard a crackle of broken branches in the woods and stopped in his tracks, crouching low next to a large oak tree to hide. He peeked around the edge of the tree, trying to spot what had made the noise.

An ear-splitting roar was their only warning as a giant creature made of nightmares suddenly appeared where there had been empty air a moment before. It was huge, with a broad chest and muscular arms that ended in sharp black claws. The deep purple trousers were tattered and worn, and its brown cloak had probably not even seen better days. Its bare feet ended in talons as sharp as its fingernails. Its pupils were shockingly white, and when it bared its teeth in a wide grin it revealed sharpened black teeth that were caked with old blood. The blue skin combined with invisibility is what made Yuri stop in his tracks, the blood running ice-cold in his veins. _ Oni _. The word was a whisper in his mind in the split second that he took to register the creature’s appearance.

The oni charged Viktor with its wickedly sharp glaive, swinging the pole arm high in the air. Viktor cursed, stumbling back a step as the glaive’s blade snagged in the branches above the oni’s head. It caught fast, and the fiendish creature was forced to release the weapon. It clattered to the earth behind him. Viktor seized the opportunity of the oni’s distraction to attack with his yklwa, a sharp, jagged knife that he boasted to everyone who would listen, and some who wished they couldn’t, that he had won off of Georgi in years past in a game of dice. Viktor managed to slide under the oni’s defense, slicing into its right arm, before jumping out of the way of its sharp claws.

The oni let out a guttural moan and slashed at Yuuri. He cried out in pain as the claws bit into flesh. Viktor was on the oni in a flash, his yklwa striking out at the beast’s chest and up toward its neck. The oni twitched its body out of the way of the worst of the damage, blood now streaming down its chest in blue rivulets.

Cackling yips drew Yuri’s attention away from the fight in front of him, as three gnolls charged into the fight. They were large, ferocious beasts that had once been hyenas. Rewarded by the god Yeenoghu for their service, they were warped into humanoid beasts that hunted in packs and couldn’t be reasoned or bargained with, only killed to keep from pillaging more villages.

Yuri slid behind the nearest tree and notched an arrow in his bow. He wasted no time sighting on the closest gnoll and shot true, striking it in the eye and felling it. Its comrades didn’t even blink, biting out at Otabek and Viktor with their powerful jaws. Otabek countered his opponent with ease of practice, but the one that attacked Viktor caught his arm in its terrible bite. Viktor reacted instantly, stabbing his yklwa up into its throat and brain, killing it instantly. He had to pry his arm free of the jaws before they froze in death.

Yuuri bit back the cry of pain as he unclipped his hand axe from his belt, letting it soar through the air to embed in the oni’s shoulder. It roared as the blade sunk home and tore it out of its body to fling the bladed weapon to the ground in its anger.

Otabek struck out at the gnoll that attacked him with his longsword. It attempted to bat the blade away with its clawed hand but swung wide, missing. Otabek’s sword opened a wound in the creature’s stomach that bled sluggishly. Yuri’s arrow soared through the air to embed in its chest, finishing the gnoll off. It fell to the ground, dead.

The oni blindsided Viktor as the elf broke free of the dead gnoll’s sharp teeth, raking its clawed hands down his back. Viktor’s eyes flashed blue and he turned to stab up into the oni’s stomach. The blade caught against the gnoll’s skull, and he missed, the blood on the handle causing it to fall uselessly to the ground. Viktor grunted and slashed out with his second blade, striking deep into the oni’s leg.

Yuri fumbled with his shortbow, his trembling arms offsetting the adrenaline the fight had brought about. His arrow flew wide and he cursed, scrambling to reload once more.

Viktor was dangerously close to the oni and Yuri couldn’t help, not with the fear of striking him with one of his arrows on his mind. He breathed a sigh of relief as Yuuri reached out to Viktor with a twitch of the hand, pulling him out of harm’s way and into the sky. Viktor wasted no time in pulling his strung longbow from his back, two arrows out of their quiver a split second later. 

Otabek murmured a few words over his longsword and it glowed with the effervescent light of Branding Smite. Now unimpeded by Viktor, Otabek struck the oni with the glowing weapon, hitting its ribs with a crack. The oni lashed out immediately with its claws. Otabek ducked to avoid the first swipe, but was unprepared for the second as the black claws scraped his unprotected neck. Yuri cried out and shot another arrow at the oni to get it to back away from Otabek, hitting it squarely in the chest. At the same time, Viktor loosed his own arrow from the sky, hitting the oni in its already-wounded shoulder.

A column of flames suddenly encased the oni and it let out a rattling screech as it was surrounded by burning heat. It flickered in Yuri’s vision, as if it were trying to become invisible once more but was too injured to do so. Yuuri’s hands were outstretched to the deadly creature as he concentrated on his spell.

Otabek struck through the column of fire with his sword to hit the oni in the chest. The fire left as quickly as it had come, and Yuri was shocked to see some of the burns seem to heal themselves.

“It’s regenerating,” Viktor yelled from his position in the sky. “Watch out!”

The oni glared at Otabek and let out a rattling roar the made the hairs on the back of Yuri’s neck stand on end. It kicked out at Otabek with a clawed foot and missed, slipping in its own blood. It regained its balance and struck again with its unhindered arm, skimming Otabek’s shoulder.

Viktor and Yuri shot at the oni simultaneously, Yuri’s arrow lodged in the oni’s left eye, while Viktor caught it in the chest, and it dropped to the forest floor, gurgling in pain as it died.

The four of them stayed stock-still, breathing heavily from the unexpected fight. Once they were sure that another creature wasn’t lurking out in the woods for them, they relaxed. Otabek grunted at the pain in his shoulder and neck, making Yuri bolt across the distance between them to assess the damage done to him.

“You really need to do a better job of protecting yourself from slashing wounds, Otabek,” Yuri teased when he saw that the damage wasn’t life-threatening. 

Yuuri was already applying a salve to Viktor’s wounds, berating him under his breath for coming up against enemies so much bigger than him with just a set of knives.

“...I don’t care if one of your knives is ‘the super fancy one you won on a bet off of Georgi,’ you don’t go after opponents practically double your size with nothing to properly defend yourself. Why didn’t you use your pole arm, hmm? At least then you would have had some distance on the cursed thing!”

Viktor enveloped his husband in his arms, making the smaller man squeak in protest.

Yuri turned away from the pair and brusquely undid the toggles on Otabek’s tunic to apply a healing salve to his shoulder and neck.

“This’ll sting a little bit,” he warned Otabek, who looked a little wary as he stood still under Yuri’s ministrations. He winced at the first touch of Yuri’s cold fingers, but then relaxed as the healing salve made quick work of his cuts. They smoothed out and became the angry red scabs of a week’s healing in a matter of seconds. Yuri whistled.

“When Lilia brews up a potion, she does it right. How’s that feel?”

A blush had crept up Otabek’s neck to his cheeks while Yuri worked on him. He cleared his throat.

“It feels much better. Thank you, Yura.”

Otabek straightened out his clothes while Yuri stared at him, his face red at the nickname. Only the old man had ever called him by a nickname before, and that was only because his precious husband had the same name as him. Never mind that Viktor had known him a century longer than his precious Yuuri.

“Happy to help,” Yuri mumbled and ran away to collect his things from where they had fallen when the fight began.

Viktor called out to them, still quiet in case there were other unsavory creatures lurking in the forest.

“Let’s get going. I don’t want to take the chance of another oni catching us out here, and we still have a fair distance to cover before we can camp for the night. Now, especially, I want us to have our full strength when we fight whatever there is to come. One oni isn’t enough to scare off whole populations from coming through these woods.”

They made quick time through the rest of the journey, Yuri and Viktor trading off scouting ahead, as they were more used to tracking and scouting in the woodlands than Otabek and Yuuri. They fortunately did not come up against any other creatures in their travels, but that also meant no fresh food for the night’s supper.

“This is why we bring provisions with us,” Yuuri said consolingly. “It’s better, anyway, that we don’t burn a campfire this close to the Forgotten Temple. Who knows what kind of beacon that would be for the creatures we’re looking to face on the morrow?”

Yuri grumbled, but he knew that Yuuri was right. A bright fire with the smell of cooking meat would have called any number of unsavory types their way. Still, his stomach grumbled as he filled it with plain cheese, bread, and more jerky.

The night was cold, and once again, Yuri awoke to Otabek’s arm draped over him. After his initial tense awakening, Yuri relaxed into it. The human’s arms around him were the safest he had felt in a very long time, and he didn’t want Otabek to stop if he woke him up. Viktor nudged him awake for the early-morning watch, and Yuri eased himself out of Otabek’s embrace. Viktor tilted his head at Yuri, glancing curiously between him and the slumbering form. Yuri rolled his eyes and shrugged. He didn’t know what it meant, really, and the old man could mind his own business. Viktor just grinned and went to curl up next to his husband, falling promptly to sleep and leaving Yuri to stand watch.

His watch passed uneventfully, for which he was grateful, and as the sun began to rise, Yuri shook his traveling companions awake. It was time.

They went over the map one last time over a pot of tea that Viktor had spelled warm. Yuri breathed in the deep, woodsy scent of the willow bark tea and imperceptibly relaxed. They were only a mile away from the Forgotten Temple by Otabek’s estimations, and they prepared themselves for whatever may come up in the fight to come.

“If the oni and gnolls are anything to judge by, we’re going to have a nasty fight ahead of us,” Yuuri told them as they checked over their weapons and armor.

They made their way carefully through the woods, Yuri scouting ahead once more. The trees broke a hundred yards from the temple, but what man had cut down some time before, nature had taken back over, to a degree. Vines and shrubbery had taken over the bare ground before the temple, creating a bit of coverage for them if they were careful making their way into the temple proper. Yuri scanned the two towers that capped the wall of the temple, but couldn’t see anyone standing guard. The temple wasn’t built for defense, which Yuri thought was stupid for a place so far removed from civilization. The walls were fortified to a degree, but there weren’t any arrow-slits that he could see in the stones of the wall, and no walkway on the wall itself for fighters to defend the building. Maybe that was why it had fallen.

He relayed his news to the party, and they settled into their plan. They would follow the path that Yuri had found and try for the front gate, which had just been left open with one door hanging off of its top hinge. They exchanged the plan in whispers, afraid to alert whatever might be inside to their whereabouts with their discussion.

Yuri went forward with Otabek, scurrying from bush to bush together to hide from potential enemies that lay in wait for them inside the temple. Viktor and Yuuri followed closely behind them. Yuri was just about to make the final dash across open ground to hide behind the open door when his boot caught on a raised root in the ground and he went sprawling on the ground, the wind knocked out of him. Otabek’s strong hands grabbed him up quickly and pulled him behind the final bush into a crouch. They were both breathing heavily and Otabek brushed his hands over Yuri’s jaw and shoulder, silently assessing for damage. Yuri just as silently signaled that he was uninjured. 

Otabek peeked through the branches of the bush they were hiding behind; no one had spotted them, if there were anyone even guarding the place. He gave Yuri a thumbs-up, and Yuri glanced back to Viktor and Yuuri, who had frozen a few bushes back when Yuri had gone to the ground. He gave the signal to move forward and carefully picked his way around the offending root and dashed to the large wooden door, Otabek close behind him. Through the gap in the hinge, Yuri could see inside the entrance to the temple to a certain degree. He almost cursed aloud before he remembered himself, biting down hard on his lip. They were lucky that the gnolls hadn’t heard him fall.

Otabek’s eyes were filled with worry. Yuri counted out the enemies that he could see; if only he could look around the corner to the rest of the entryway. He listened for movement in his blind spot, but there was nothing that he could sense. Yuri raised his hands so that the companions could see him from where they stood still waiting. He counted out five enemies on his hands and made the hand signs for ‘no magic’ and ‘maybe more’ to them. It was their own way of communicating, and Yuri could tell from Otabek’s puzzled look that he didn’t understand the more complicated hand signs. Yuri pulled him close to whisper into his ear, enjoying the feel of the man pulled close to him. Who knew where this day would lead, after all? Might as well enjoy the contact while he could.

They were as ready as they could be, and with one last glance to Viktor and Yuuri, Yuri notched an arrow to his recurve shortbow and angled it through the gap in the doorway. He chose his target carefully; one of the bigger of the five nasty creatures, since she was most likely the pack leader and therefore the hardest to fell. Yuri’s arrow flew threw the air in a deadly arc and found its target, sinking into the gnoll’s chest. She fell to the ground, growling in a hair-raising hyena bark. The gnoll leader stared at the arrow sticking out of her chest in confusion, and chaos erupted as the traveling companions charged into the fray.

The one that Yuri had targeted was sputtering on the ground, coughing up blood. Yuuri sighted on a pair of gnolls that stood close together and called a fiery pillar of fire down on them, burning them to a crisp. Their eyes all seemed to glow with a demonic light that Yuri knew wasn’t their own. He didn’t have time to think on it as the battle continued. At one point, Viktor’s arm was cut by sharp claws from shoulder to elbow. It bled sluggishly as they fought on, until every last one of their enemies were dead.

Yuuri wasted no time wrapping Viktor’s arm and swearing at him for getting hurt. Yuri ignored them, assessing the area around them as he collected his arrows back. The place had definitely seen better days. It was clear that the gnolls had taken over the temple’s entry room, with campfires set in the corners of the room and empty bedrolls lying scattered about. What smelled like rotting flesh sat in piles on the floor; Yuri didn’t want to think on that long, and turned his attention to the walls. They were carved with images of some God, though he wasn’t much for religion and didn’t know which one it could be. The carvings were covered with long scratch marks, sculptures in their alcoves toppled and broken. 

There were a couple of doors leading off of the room. The first Yuri tried was bolted shut with a tree growing around the doorframe; there was going to be no budging it. The next one was clearly well-used, and before trying it, Yuri checked back with the party. Viktor was patched up, and the others had escaped unscathed. 

“Are we ready to move on? There’s only one functioning door, so it’s coppers to a silver that’s the one we need to go through.”

Viktor winced slightly as he moved his arm. “It’s a good thing I’m ambidextrous. Yes, I’m good to go. Let’s see what was controlling those gnolls.”

“You noticed that too?” Otabek asked. “I’ve fought with gnolls before, but these seemed to be like puppets. There was none of the normal viciousness about them, almost like what had them under its thrall didn’t know how to control them to play to their strengths. I didn’t get a good look at the gnolls from yesterday since we were ambushed, but it didn’t take very much to kill them, either.”

“I shudder at the thought,” Yuuri commented, putting away the last of his bandages in his bag and throwing it over one shoulder. “Shall we?”

Yuri listened at the door for noises on the other side. He heard nothing, and when he peeked into the keyhole, saw only a long shadowed corridor. Not wanting to leave anything to chance, Yuri scanned the doorframe and keyhole itself for any traps. Deeming it safe, Yuri eased open the door. The revealed corridor was long and damp with mold and plant life growing in the cracks on the walls. It reeked of dead things and Yuri gagged at the scent before he could block his nose. He barely managed to keep his scant breakfast down. Once his stomach finally settled, he nodded to the others and they took off down the corridor, keeping an eye out for any traps.

There were several doors along the hallway, but they were all stuck fast with the twining vines and plant life that seemed to have taken over the building when it fell into disuse. They agreed that nothing they were looking for would be down those ways, and moved on. At the end of the corridor was a battered-down door, shattered wood scattered on the floor of the room beyond. Yuri and Otabek glanced at one another; something large clearly had forced its way in recently. The four held their weapons at the ready and Yuri hopped lightly over the wreckage of the door, his bow raised with an arrow notched in the string, ready to fire.

A fierce, yipping growl came from the other side of the room. A pair of hyenas had been feasting on the bones of a… something when Yuri had entered. They jumped up and Yuri fired his bolt at the closest of the pair, just barely missing it. The arrow shattered on the wall behind it. Otabek wasn’t far behind him, his sword raised to slash at the powerful beast, scoring a deep gash in its belly. It collapsed to the ground, the light fading quickly from its eyes. The second beast took an arrow in the eye from Viktor’s bow. The battle was over before it had really begun, for which Yuri was grateful.

Viktor went over to examine the remains that the hyenas had been gnawing on.

“Whoever they were, they were humanoid. Not one of ours, thank the Gods.”

Viktor said a quiet prayer over what was left of the deceased person and rejoined them, pulling his arrow out of the eye socket of the hyena he had shot.

“Let’s move on, then, shall we?” Otabek said. “The sooner we get to the heart of this temple, the sooner it’s done.”

“Agreed. Let’s kill whatever this thing is,” Yuri said.

There was only one door through the room. Yuri checked it before opening; he didn’t want any nasty surprises.

They moved deeper and deeper into the temple. The dark had little effect on all but Otabek, who moved closer to Yuri so that he would not trip on the rubble at the edges of the halls and rooms. Yuri smiled to himself and nudged Otabek’s hip with his, forcing a tight, quiet chuckle from the man.

The door at the end of the hall creaked open to reveal a room that glowed with a sickeningly yellow light. Through the glow cast by an unseen source, Yuri could see the large room that must have once been the nave of the temple. Rubble littered the stone slabs of the floor where columns had fallen, and the roof had collapsed in the back corner; the impact must have shattered the altar, which lay in a crushed heap. 

From their vantage point, Yuri could see that there was what he could only describe as a fiend facing away from them, standing at the altar. It wore a flowing set of purple and gold-accented robes that had seen better days, and its exposed arms and elongated head were hairless, a pale moss-green tone to the skin that Yuri had never seen before. His heart thudded in his chest and he mentally prepared himself for a fight with an unknown entity.

Yuri would see, tied up to a broken pillar next to the creature, the limp forms of their two missing comrades. He was too far away to be able to see if Georgi and Seung-Gil were breathing, but the fact that they were there, and were tied as if they would try to escape, gave him hope.

On the floor of the nave between them and the green-skinned figure were three hyenas chewing on bones in a circle on the floor, growling at each other over their dinner. Yuri wasted no time in his attack; he leveled his bow and sighted on the closest hyena in the chest, killing it instantly. He wasn’t quick enough with his second arrow, and it flew wide, shattering on the stone slabs of the floor. Yuri kicked a stone by his feet in frustration as he prepared for the next attack. 

“Maybe try saving some arrows for the enemy, hmm?” Viktor commented snidely. Yuri didn’t have a chance to reply, as the hyenas he’d missed jumped up to attack, tripping over each other in their haste. Two gnolls appeared from behind the pillar closest to them, making Yuri curse. He hadn’t seen them. The first lunged out at Viktor with its spear, nicking his arm as the pole arm sliced down. Viktor swerved out of the way to avoid a more deadly attack and braced himself. The second gnoll stood its ground, shooting at Yuuri with its longbow. Its arrow sank into Yuuri’s shoulder and he cried out in pain. He didn’t even wait a full breath before he pulled the arrow’s head from his flesh—fortunately, it wasn’t deeply embedded. Viktor looked over to his husband, worried, but Yuuri shook his head and lifted his chin in the direction of the oncoming enemy.

Otabek slashed out at the gnoll that had attacked Viktor, disabling its left arm. His second swing cut deep into the gnoll’s stomach and it collapsed to the ground, dead. In his moment of distraction, one of the hyenas attempted to lunge at Otabek, but he just noticed in time and dodged out of the way.

Viktor dashed up to the gnoll that had attacked Yuuri and sliced at it with his yklwa in rapid succession, scoring two deep marks in its flesh. 

Three more gnolls attacked them from the left. Arrows flew and missed the companions as they twisted out of the way of the bolts. One of the gnolls had a spear and swung its weapon down at Otabek from above with a chattering cackle, cutting a deep line in his arm from shoulder to elbow. Otabek grunted and glared at the gnoll that now faced him down.

It was in that moment that the green-skinned creature at the altar turned to look their way. Its face was devoid of emotion, just two beady yellow eyes set in an almost lizard-like face. Whatever it was trying to do to Viktor didn’t seem to work—and it was very obvious it was trying to do _ something _. Viktor twitched and shook his head, focusing back on the opponent in front of him. Suddenly, the creature swirled and vanished from its spot on the dais. Yuri cursed loudly.

“Where the fuck did that thing go?” He was gritting his teeth.

“Be careful,” Yuuri said, fear lacing his every word. “It’s an Ultroloth, it—”

Yuri didn’t get to hear _ what _ it was, because the damned thing suddenly appeared right in front of him. He stumbled back, unprepared for this close an attack. It swept its longsword in practiced movements, striking him again and again and again as Yuri cried out with every slash of the blade. He fell back against the wall behind him, and in that moment, Yuuri murmured a few words and cast Flame Strike on the hideous beast, engulfing it in flames and giving Yuri a chance to breathe and get away from the thing. Steadying himself, Yuri put an arrow to his bow and shot the hyena that had attacked Otabek, killing it cleanly with one strike.

Two hyenas ganged up on Viktor in that moment. One grazed his arm with its teeth, and the other missed its mark, skittering to a halt behind Viktor. Otabek unclipped his handaxe and threw it at the Ultroloth, hitting it squarely in the leg. He took the moment of distraction to create a magic circle of glowing light that encompassed the fiend.

“That should hold it for a bit, at least,” Otabek told his companions. They nodded at him and attacked their foes in earnest. Viktor slashed out at the gnoll closest to him with his yklwa as the other three gnolls sent another flurry of arrows their way. One struck Yuri in the thigh, making him grunt, and at the same time the remaining gnoll with a spear struck out at Otabek again with a middle-cut jab to his stomach.

The magic circle flashed once, as if the Ultroloth were trying and failing to escape. Yuri didn’t have time to pray that it would hold. The creature struck out blindly with its sword, swinging through the white veil. Its first strike missed those closest to it, but the next two hit Yuuri. He bit back a yell and backed away from his assailant. He held out his hands in front of him, thumbs touching, and flames shot out of them to engulf the Ultroloth in sheets of red fire. Yuri could see through the white light of its enclosure that its robes were smoldering, the purple fabric on one shoulder and its chest melding with its flesh below.

“Hey, Yuuri, you cooking us dinner tonight?” Yuri joked. 

He didn’t waste time listening for an answer, but sighted on one of the gnolls that was shooting at them from a few pillars away. His bolt flew true and sunk all the way to the feathers into the creature’s eye socket.

Simultaneously, the hyena that had fallen behind Viktor bit him in the calf while the nearby gnoll took one of its bolts in hand and charged at Yuuri, stabbing him in the side with the arrow’s blunt tip. Viktor killed the hyena that attacked him with a growl of frustration.

Otabek wasted no time and twisted his fingers in the air in front of him, healing some of his companions’ more minor injuries. Yuri felt the ache in his thigh ease and vanish, and he flashed a grin of thanks at Otabek. The paladin nodded back at him and murmured another spell over his sword, making it glow with an intensely bright light. He lunged at the magic circle encircling the Utroloth, but it had shifted in its lit prison and he missed.

Viktor turned to the gnoll that had attacked Yuuri and stabbed it in the with his yklwa, killing it instantly. The jagged blade got stuck in the creature’s flesh and was ripped from Viktor’s hand. The two gnolls that remained took advantage of Viktor’s distraction, shooting at him with their longbows. One arrow flew wide as another hit him in the leg. He crouched down and recovered his weapon from the fallen gnoll.

Just then, the shimmering light of the Ultroloth’s cage burst, and the burnt, bloody fiend disappeared in a flash, reappearing in front of Yuri. It was so close he forgot to avert his eyes from it, and a sensation of peace washed over him. _ Why was he fighting the Ultroloth? There was no need; its purpose here was of more value than his measly life. _ Yuri’s arms drifted down to his sides, his weapons hanging limply in his hands.

“Yuri, no!” Otabek’s voice cut through the fog in his head, but really, why was he upset? Everything would be all right.

Through the haze in his vision, Yuri watched as if in slow motion as the Ultroloth struck out with its longsword. The burns on its torso must have been impeding it, though, because it missed both attacks. A laugh burbled up Yuri’s throat and sounded like starlight in his ears. Yuri stood, unmoving, as the others fought in slow motion around him. Yuuri’s mouth moved and he waved his arms, but nothing seemed to happen. Otabek struck out at the Ultroloth with his sword, but the creature parried his first swing. The second attack struck down on the Ultroloth’s already-injured shoulder. Otabek spared a glance at Yuri and seemed to be saying...something? Yuri squinted, but he couldn’t hear anything through the thick fog that seemed to surround him. He frowned, his brow pinching in confusion.

The slow-motion fight continued, as Viktor came in close to the Ultroloth and stabbed it repeatedly, then jumped away again. The remaining gnolls threw down their longbows and snatched up spears that had been lying on the ground, charging into the fray. One tripped over the rubble, and Yuri would have laughed if he could. _ Why couldn’t he, again? _The other gnoll threw its spear at Yuuri, hitting him.

The Ultroloth turned its beady yellow eyes on Otabek then, but he avoided looking at the creature directly in the face. Its sword snaked up and around, and he barely kept his own as he blocked strike after strike. He slipped, and the sharp weapon struck him, stabbing deep into his shoulder.

Yuri didn’t know what it was, but suddenly his vision sharpened to a pinpoint, his senses returning and he cursed colorfully. Yuuri raised his hands, once more casting burning hands on the Ultroloth. It noticed in time and shifted to the side, taking minor damage as the gnoll behind it burned to a crisp, its charred body crumpling to the ground. 

Yuri clipped his recurve bow to his belt and slid his rapier out of its frog. The Ultroloth wasn’t prepared for the onslaught of angry elf as he struck blow after blow on the thing. It was covered with many deeply bleeding wounds, and one eye seemed to be squinting at him now.

Yuri spat on the ground in front of the Ultroloth as he leapt out of its reach. “That’s what you get for enthralling me, you bastard.” He pulled out his bow once more, keeping an eye on the remaining gnoll. Otabek jumped forward to engage with the Ultroloth at that moment and tripped on a fallen piece of the ceiling, barely catching himself to avoid falling. The gnoll took the opportunity to jab its spear at Otabek, and he grunted as the weapon sunk into his flesh. The Ultroloth turned to face Viktor and Yuuri. Viktor parried his longsword’s strikes with his yklwa.

“Right now would be a good time to use that new spell of yours, darling!” Viktor said through gritted teeth.

“Oh! Right.” Yuuri twisted his hands in the air, and an intense pressure seemed to shake the air around them. The Ultroloth’s good eye widened and with a snarl, it tried to launch itself at Yuuri, but it was caught up in the warlock’s spell. Its exposed flesh hardened before Yuri’s eyes, turning grey.

“It isn’t finished,” Yuuri said, panting. “We need to finish it off, or it might shake the spell.”

The last gnoll attempted to lunge forward, and Yuri wasted no time disposing of it with an arrow to the chest. It fell hard to the ground in a tumble of limbs. Meanwhile, Otabek struck at the Petrified Ultroloth with his sword. He misjudged the first strike and it glanced off the stoney surface, but his second strike was clean, and it sheared the creature’s left arm clean off. Viktor attempted to throw his boot knife at the fiend, but it glanced off and fell to the ground, useless.

Yuri grinned at Viktor while Yuuri rolled his eyes.

“Really, dearest? Everyone cover your ears.”

Yuuri stretched out his hands. His eyes glowed fire-blue and a sudden loud ringing sound reverberated throughout the nave. Yuri dropped his bow and crouched low, covering his ears as the noise grew louder. The stone figure that had once been the Ultroloth shattered into tiny pieces on the ground around them.

Yuri carefully peeled his fingers away from his ears, glaring at Yuuri.

“A little more warning next time would have been nice, Piggy.”

Yuuri just shrugged, making Yuri’s scowl deepen.

“I _ did _ warn you, Yurio,” he said and turned to assess his husband’s injuries.

Yuri wasted no time limping down the aisle of the nave, keeping an eye and an ear out for any unusual noises, but it seemed that they had fought the last of the creatures in the temple. The alter at which the Ultroloth had stood was scattered with bits and pieces of what looked to be some sort of spell. Yuri didn’t recognize what the combination of a crushed black pearl could do with the crystal-clear pendant on a chain, but he was glad that he hadn’t had the chance to find out. Yuri pocketed the pendant and then hobbled over to the prone form of Georgi, slumped against the pillar he had been restrained to for who knew how long? He didn’t much like the guy, for all of his theatrical airs, but that didn’t mean that he would ever wish him harm. 

Georgi’s body was littered with fresh cuts set in precise lines. Yuri shuddered. He didn’t even want to consider the potential meaning of their placement. Yuuri was at their side a moment later, his hands glowing blue with his healing gift. The moment he touched Georgi’s shredded chest, the blue light transferred to the human; muscle knitted itself together and skin reshaped itself. 

“He will be scarred for life,” Yuuri murmured quietly, “but he will live.”

Otabek knelt at Seung-Gil’s side on the other side of the column, making quick work of the ropes that had bound him. Seung-Gil grimaced and rubbed his rope-raw wrists, giving Otabek a curt nod of thanks. Otabek returned the nod and clasped Seung-Gil’s shoulder briefly, before standing to walk over to Yuri and Yuuri.

“They’ll be all right, but I don’t think that we should stay here longer than a night. Whatever beastie that thing was working for will be a long time in coming to see what’s become of its minion. In the morning, we can make some sort of stretcher for your friend so that we can move him safely.”

Yuuri nodded, tight-lipped. “There is much more healing that needs to be done to Georgi before he can move on his own, and I’m afraid it is beyond my own capabilities to do it. He’s stable, for now. That was the important thing.”

“Then I’ll set up camp while you rest. You look as worn out as Viktor.” Otabek cracked a small smile at Yuuri. “Can you help me with our packs, Yura?”

Yuri was too tired from the fight to argue. He stuck to Otabek like a burr, and they set up camp in the corner of the nave away from the collapsed ceiling; none of them liked the look of some of the timbers, barely holding onto the stones around them. 

The night and following days were blissfully uneventful, a blessing that Yuri couldn’t have even hoped for. The five of them, including Seung-Gil, traded off in pairs carrying the stretcher they had concocted for Georgi to lie in. He didn’t awaken until the first afternoon, something that had worried Yuuri, for all that it meant that Georgi wasn’t feeling the pain of his near-fatal wounds. He surfaced to wakefulness with a thrashing cry, and it was only Yuuri’s glowing-blue hand on his chest that soothed his pain long enough that Georgi realized where he was. He slept again, a proper rest this time.

Those nights on the road, Yuri and Otabek fell asleep wrapped up in each others’ arms, thankful to be alive.

* * *

“All hail the conquering heroes!” A loud cheer went up in the Black Earl Tavern. Folk stomped their feet and slapped tables with their hands. Once Yakov and Lilia had seen to Georgi’s wounds and heard the report of the creatures that had blighted the forest, they had commanded they all go to the Order’s favorite tavern to relax - and all drinks would be paid for by Yakov for their hard work. None of them needed to be told twice, and even Georgi was up to the task. 

“Otabek, a moment, if you will,” Yakov ordered as the group left his office.

Otabek waved to Yuri, signaling that he was fine. Yuri’s hesitation to leave Otabek was obvious, but he finally left with Viktor and Georgi tugging at his arms. Once the door had swung shut behind them, Yakov leveled a steady, assessing gaze on Otabek, making him squirm a little where he stood, his feet planted firmly, hands clasped behind his back at parade rest position.

“As you have nowhere to stay, I’ve paid for rooms for you above the Black Earl Tavern, for as long as you wish to stay.”

Otabek tried to protest, to no avail. The old dwarf refused to accept Otabek’s thanks, merely patting him on the back and whispering in his ear, “Take care of our Yurachka. He’s not one to trust so quickly, and that trust is hard-earned. And just know, I have agents all over the world who will kill you at one word from me if you hurt him.”

Otabek’s eyes widened and he nodded solemnly at Yakov.

“You have my word,” Otabek promised, a fist over his heart.

Yakov grinned and patted him on the shoulder. 

“Oh, I believe you. Now go join the others, I’m sure they’re all waiting for you.”

* * *

Yuri was sitting at a crowded table nursing his ale, pouting to himself while the others all celebrated around him. The moment Otabek walked in the tavern, the elf jumped up and dragged Otabek back to their table. Another tankard was shoved in front of him, and Otabek nodded his thanks to Viktor, who winked and went back to chatting with the halfling bard sitting next to him.

“So what did Yakov want with you, anyway?” Yuri asked, feigning disinterest as he took a swig of his ale.

Otabek played with the handle of his tankard.

“He rented a room for me here at the tavern, since I don’t have a place of my own in town,” he said innocently, taking a sip of the ale.

“Is that all?”

Otabek scooched closer to Yuri on the bench; the din in the tavern was so loud that he had to talk at a normal volume to be heard even a short distance away.

“He also told me that if I hurt you, he’d put out a hit on me.”

Yuri’s cheeks flushed a bright red and he took a long swig from his tankard to avoid responding to that. He choked on the ale and was left sputtering and gasping for breath. Otabek laughed and rubbed Yuri’s back until he was able to breathe again.

Yuri coughed one last time. “So...what did you tell him?”

“I told him he had my word that I’ll take care of you, Yura.”

Otabek reached out and offered his hand to Yuri, grinning bashfully. Yuri bit his lip and took Otabek’s hand in his, lacing their fingers together instead of going for the handshake that Otabek had been intending.

“I’d like that. Beka.”

The halfling bard struck up a song in the middle of the room on her lute, and Yuri and Otabek joined in with their companions, singing one bawdy song after another until late in the night. They stumbled, giggling with each other, up to Otabek’s rented room in the late hours of the night, the party still going in the public rooms below. They could hear the music and sounds of celebration through the floorboards of the room, but they didn’t care. 

The moment the door clicked shut behind them, Yuri had Otabek pushed against it, his mouth seeking exposed skin. He nipped and bit down the line of Otabek’s jaw to his neck, his hands busily picking apart pieces of leather armor. Yuri let the pieces fall to the floor as their latches released. Otabek tugged at Yuri’s clothes just as urgently. Fabric joined armor on the ground, and Yuri sank to his knees as he undid Otabek’s trousers. 

Yuri didn’t hesitate at the sight of Otabek’s erection, licking a long stripe up the hard length that had Otabek gripping his hair in one hand. Yuri swirled his tongue along the head and then sank down, setting a slow, leisurely pace that had Otabek’s hand tugging hard in his hair, making Yuri moan around the cock in his mouth. Otabek pulled on Yuri’s arm before he could finish him off, bringing Yuri up to smother the elf in an all-encompassing kiss. 

What was left of their clothes didn’t last long on their bodies, and somehow the pair of them found themselves on the small bed. Otabek took both of their cocks in his broad hand, not wasting any time. The friction of their erections sliding together combined with the rough hand that stroked them overwhelmed Yuri, and he shuddered through his orgasm, clinging to Otabek as they both fell over the precipice.

Otabek leaned down, peppering Yuri’s sweat-soaked face with gentle kisses that were at odds with the frantic coupling of just moments before.

“Join the Order, Beka,” Yuri blurted out, and then blushed fiercely. “I mean...If you want to. I don’t want this to be a one-and-done, and then I’ll never see you again.”

Otabek rolled onto his side to cuddle with Yuri, playing with the blond hair at the nape of his neck.

“I’m already in an Order, Yura. But—“ Otabek had seen the hurt look in Yuri’s eyes. “I’d consider coming on as a freelancer. Especially if it meant staying by your side.”

Yuri’s happy yelp was muted by the swelling of the bard’s music in the tavern below—the sound of the bed frame hitting against the wall as they went for round two...not so much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next "chapter" is all of my notes and references, for anyone interested.


	3. Appendix

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This isn't a true chapter, but rather the "Appendix" of all of the references and such that I used while I was writing, and give a little bit of an insight into my writing process.

Pub background noise from the beginning of the fic:  [ https://cafe.ambient-mixer.com/irish-public-house ](https://cafe.ambient-mixer.com/irish-public-house) , channels 1 & 6-8 at max, but imagine the talking SO MUCH LOUDER and bawdier.

Battle BG noise:  [ https://rpg.ambient-mixer.com/battle-tune ](https://rpg.ambient-mixer.com/battle-tune)

* * *

Map of Irsonne, the port city where Yuri recruits Otabek for the mission. I used this map generator, and it is fantastic! Definitely check it out: [ Watabou Medieval Fantasy City Generator](https://watabou.itch.io/medieval-fantasy-city-generator).

This is the site of the Forgotten Temple where the "boss battle" is held. This map was generated using [Gozzys Wilderness Maps](http://gozzys.com/wilderness-maps).

* * *

I kept all the notes from the first battle with the juvenile roc that Otabek and Yuri fought on the road. Here are the raw notes from the battle as I rolled it, for anyone who is interested! I powered-down the roc and made it a juvenile so that Otabek and Yuri would be able to fight it without nearly dying. 

* * *

Initiative:

Yuri: 20+3 (HP: 94) +10

Roc: 19 (HP: 148, juvenile)   
Otabek: 18 (HP: 92)

Roc rolls 5, barrels past Otabek then 2 missing both times.

Otabek casts Branding Smite and just barely makes it, hits with his sword for 18 pts of damage. Barely even scrapes the damned thing. Misses second swing with the handaxe.

Yuri looses another bolt on the roc, hitting it for 6 pts damage.

Roc strikes out at Otabek with its claws, hitting Otabek for 21 points of damage. Strikes out with his beak but it glances off of Otabek’s sword for 3 points of damage to its face.

Otabek attacks again, he thrusts out at the roc and hits it, 10 points of damage. He swings it back down in a butterfly sweep for 7 more points of damage. Bonus action, casts Aid on Yuri.

Yuri has two more arrows prepped and looses one at the Roc’s chest, 10 points of damage, extra 6 for sneak attack. It screams in anger and pain.

Roc is at: -55 points, so 93 HP.

It turns to bear down on Yuri, pecking with its bloody beak for 10 points of damage. It lashes out with its claws and hits for another 11 points.

Otabek strikes at its large leg from behind with his sword, 6pts damage. Reverses it and strikes again for 5 more pts. 

Roc is at 82 HP.

Yuri has scrambled up in the tree while it was distracted and pulls out his rapier, scoring a thick line in its neck for 12 pts damage. He then twists out of the Roc’s beak reach and around the tree, panting heavily.

The Roc attacks Otabek now, biting at him with its powerful beak. It misses as he jumps back, snapping down on air. Angry caw, swipes at him with its uninjured talon and misses as it stumbles in pain. It’s on the ground now.

Otabek attacks with his longsword, slashing at its belly for 11 points of damage. the wound bleeds sluggishly.

Yuri launches himself at the Roc, his bow having fallen to the ground. He slashes furiously at the same spot where Otabek opened a wound with the rapier for 12 points of damage, then with dagger in his offhand but misjudges the distance and misses.

Roc is at 57 HP and is bleeding from its many wounds.

Roc attacks Yuri and misses, stumbling. It strikes out at Otabek with its injured claw, he cries out in pain as the sharp talons cut into his leg for 5 points of damage.

Otabek attacks back, chopping down on the injured leg, but his own injured leg makes him seize up. He tries again and his blade sinks into sinewy flesh, 5 pts damage.

Yuri continues to attack with the rapier, hits for 6 pts, then with dagger for 3 more points.

Roc is at 43 HP.

The Roc hops back a few feet, then swipes the talons of its badly-injured leg at Yuri at a disadvantage, hits for 7 pts damage. pecks with beak but misses.

Otabek stabs up with his longsword in hand, misses then hits for 9 pts damage.

Yuri does a complicated move with the rapier that strikes home on the already-injured stomach for 9 pts damage, then swipes with the dagger but misses again.

Roc is at 25.

Roc swipes at Yuri with its beak, no longer able to fight with its legs. Hits him for 8 pts.

Otabek stabs with his sword, hits, 8pts, swings again for 9 points.

Yuri strikes with rapier, 6 pts, knife misses (just give up on the knife already, Yuri).

Roc is at 2 fucking points. Its entrails are now hanging out of the many wounds in its stomach and it’s clearly about to die. It takes one last swipe with its beak at Otabek and misses, collapsing onto the ground.

Otabek strikes with his longsword at its neck, ending its misery. It twitches once and then stills, dead.


End file.
